Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's fashion mission? More personality, more style, more sexy

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is on a one-woman mission to make tennis sexy again.

After spending her decades-long career wearing kits by sportswear giants like Adidas and Lacoste, the 33-year-old from Moscow is branching out. Since the start of the season, she’s been competing in fully original designs she created herself.

From bows and lace trimmings to a daring all-denim outfit, Pavlyuchenkova is feeling confident—and making a statement—in her one-of-a-kind looks.

“I just didn’t really have a choice, and didn’t have a voice about what I was going to wear,” Pavlyuchenkova tells Tennis.com exclusively. “I like to express myself with my clothing, I like to dress up, and off the court as well.

“I think tennis is one of the coolest sports for that, because we can actually express this fashion on the court. We don’t have to wear uniform, and so I think there’s so much room for it.”

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Her designs are inspired by the unique flair of past champions like Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova in years past, and borrow elements from vintage tennis looks of the 70s, 80s, 90s tennis outfits. Pavlyuchenkova’s goal is to love every outfit she plays in—and bring back a little edge in the process.

“I think it’s a shame, because women athletes—but especially tennis girls—they have such nice legs and such good bodies,” she says, speaking in Paris during Roland Garros. “I feel like we’re all so athletic and beautiful, so you can make tennis so much more sexy…

“So yeah, then I was thinking, is there a way that I can also express myself more on court? My contracts expired with Lacoste, and then I decided to do my own thing.”

Q. How involved are you in creating these designs?

Unlike the dozens of players who are outfitted in nearly identical dresses, hats, shoes and more by the same big-name sponsors, Pavlyuchenkova has her say in every step of the process.

“I’m full on with the creative process,” she tells me. “Of course, all the small behind-the-scenes details, all the super technical details, that’s not me.

“I can’t draw, for example, so I cannot draw a sketch. But I know, in detail, how I want and what I want. And then the team creates.”

I like people who are not afraid to express themselves and be different. It’s totally fine to stand out, but it has to go with your personality. It has to be natural, if you force it it’s not going to look nice.

Q. What’s been the most difficult part of the process?

“How long everything actually takes!” Pavlyuchenkova says, laughing.

In the world of tennis apparel, long lead times are part of the process as the clothes, shoes and accessories have to be designed, playtested and then mass produced, all with a coordinating marketing campaign. For names like Nike and Adidas, for example, Wimbledon kits are finalized early in the year, in time for photo shoots to take place during Indian Wells in March.

As a smaller operation, Pavlyuchenkova’s own deadlines are tighter—but she still faces unexpected production issues that make life difficult.

“It’s like… I have ideas or details and then, OK the fabric is tough to find. And then, OK the detail was lost or there was miscommunication and it wasn’t delivered how you want,” she explains. “Because I don’t really have time to fly out and touch the fabric, and so with the distance or the online sort of stuff it’s very difficult.

“Obviously, there’s a lot behind this stuff that I didn’t know.”

Q. Which design has been your favorite so far?

“Denim for sure,” Pavlyuchenkova answers without missing a beat, referring to the head-turning head-to-toe blue denim look she rocked in Madrid and Rome. It had a short-lived run as Pavlyuchenkova struggled with injury resulting in early exits—but the memorable outfit made a splash in the WTA locker room.

“All the players, they were completely crazy about my outfit. Even Coco Gauff came and touched the fabric,” Pavlyuchenkova recalled. “It’s really cool. Also they’re welcome to dislike it, it’s normal that somebody will completely dislike it and think that I’m totally crazy. That’s OK.”

While the outfit was a tribute to tennis fashion of years past, Pavlyuchenkova hopes she can continue inspiring her peers to push the boundaries.

“The idea of denim, of course, (came from) Andre Agassi and Serena,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “But then I saw Coco Gauff wearing a leather jacket (at Roland Garros)! That’s what I’m talking about. It’s different. I’m for it!”

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Q. Who are your fashion inspirations in tennis, or in general — like designers or influences that you follow?

Pavlyuchenkova’s tennis fashion mood board includes looks from Agassi, Williams and Sharapova—“They had a lot of different outfits compared to the rest of us”—as well as “retro-vintage” inspiration from Chris Evert and the styles of the 80s and 90s.

Off the court, she’s a fan of musicians Peggy Gou and Dua Lipa: “I like this edgy mixing of styles, I like the mix of different materials and fabrics. I like people who are not afraid to express themselves and be different. It’s totally fine to stand out, but it has to go with your personality. It has to be natural, if you force it it’s not going to look nice.”

On the runways, she’s keeping an eye on David Koma — “I’m good friends with David Koma, and I also love what he creates. He actually does a lot of black looks. Now I think he tries to do colors, but he has a lot of black in his designs, and I actually love, like, full black outfits.”

Q. And finally, what do you do with your old tennis outfits?

“Actually, a lot of them I just give to my friends!” she reveals. “Yeah, they go to the gym or they’re playing padel wearing this. And they always tell me that I sponsor them, they’re always posting pictures on Instagram.

“I think most of them actually, they really liked me when I was with Lacoste! (laughs) Because you know, Lacoste is always super elegant dresses, even if they are white. If you go to a Wimbledon member club, it’s so posh and classy. So yeah I think they all really liked my presents back then!

“They’ll probably appreciate less my own stuff — I mean you’re not going to wear a denim dress to the country club! If it’s white denim, maybe.”